Service Prices Rose 3.2%,
As Cost of Goods Fell 1.5%

The government's most widely followed measure of inflation, the consumer price index, shows an important split is growing between the two dominant sectors in the economy: services and goods.

Prices for services rose 3.2% in December from a year earlier, pushed up primarily by rising medical-care costs, but also by increases in tuition, homeowner's insurance and rising charges for routine services such as trash collection and auto...